Magic Tricks

I was unfamiliar with Bryan Miles until purchasing this mixed-media set of lecture notes. Apparently, he is the hottest mentalist in South Africa. And it's easy to see why from watching the video. He's slick. Very slick. TV mentalism. His presentations all but make the three main effects, which rely on the hoariest of methods: S****** deck, b***** m***, and the old g**** and d***** l***.

While I was only modestly impressed by the effects, his routining is worth study. In addition, he gives you some "incomplete," i.e. unfinished routines, and an essay on Uri Geller. Miles is a real fan of Geller and writes about how his style can improve your mentalism.

One more point: Over the years, I've learned, for the most part, to excuse typos, poor grammar, and bad punctuation in mentalism books. It just seems to come with the territory. Miles, however, is an exceptional writer. He writes in a clean, crisp style with none of the above faults.

While not one of the greatest mentalism books of this or any year, this is a good value--and an easy read/watch on a rainy Saturday afternoon.